The servant is just someone seeking others to complain to. As long as this is the case, it can only be so. One day, he met a clever person.
“Sir!” he said sadly, tears forming a line and streaming down from the corner of his eye. “You know. The life I live is hardly human. I don’t even have a meal every day, and this meal is just sorghum husks, something even pigs and dogs won’t eat, and only a small bowl of it…”
“That is truly pitiable,” the clever person also said sadly.
“Exactly!” he was pleased. “But the work is nonstop day and night: fetching water early, cooking dinner late, running errands in the morning, grinding flour at night, washing clothes in the sun, hanging umbrellas in the rain, heating the stove in winter, fanning in summer. Midnight must stew snow fungus, serve the master for money; the initial payment [2] has never been shared, sometimes even whipped with a leather whip…”
“Alas…” the clever person sighed, his eyes reddening as if he was about to cry.
“Sir! I can’t go on like this. I must think of another way. But what way…?” he asked.
“I think, you will get better…”
Really? Hopefully so. But I have already complained to you and received your sympathy and comfort, which has made me feel much better. It shows that justice has not been extinguished…
But after a few days, he became unhappy again, still seeking someone to complain to. “Sir!” he said with tears, “You know. The place I live is even worse than a pigsty. The master doesn’t treat me like a human; he treats his dogs a hundred thousand times better…”
“Idiot!” the man shouted, startling him. The man was a fool. “Sir, I live in a broken little hut, wet and dark, full of bedbugs, biting fiercely when I lie down. The foul air hits my nose, and there are no windows on any side…”
“Won’t you ask your master to open a window?”
“How can that be?..”
“Then, take me to see it!”
The fool and the servant went outside his house, and he started smashing the mud wall.
“Sir! What are you doing?” he exclaimed in surprise.
“I’m going to open a window for you.”
“This won’t do! The master will scold us!”
“Who cares!” he continued smashing.
“Someone come! Thieves are destroying our house! Come quickly! If we delay, they’ll make a big hole!..” he cried and rolled on the ground. A group of servants came out, chasing the fool away.
Hearing the shouts, the last to come out was the master.
“There was a thief trying to destroy our house, and I shouted first, and everyone drove him away,” he said respectfully and triumphantly.
“You’re not bad,” the master praised him.
That day, many people came to visit, including the clever person.
“Sir. This time, because I contributed, the master praised me. You said I would get better earlier; you truly have foresight…” he said happily, full of hope.
“Exactly…” the clever person also responded happily as if he was pleased.
December 26, 1925.
[1] This article was first published in the January 4, 1926 issue of the weekly “Yusi.”
[2] In old society, the person who provided gambling venues would take a certain amount of money from participants, called “head money,” also known as “commission.” Sometimes, those serving in gambling could also share some of it.
Servant: The surrendering and stability-maintaining faction among the oppressed
Complaining, seeking sympathy, seeking comfort, seeking “a bit better”
The Clever: Bourgeois liberals, reformists, spectators
The Fool: Revolutionaries, fighters, action-oriented